US tech women look forward to Killington homecoming

Photo Credit: Ryan Mooney (@mooney_ryan) – U.S. Ski Team (@usskiteam)

Recently, Nina O’Brien, Paula Moltzan and AJ Hurt gathered around a kitchen table in Austria, to talk about something they’re all looking forward to: returning to Killington.

In the two years since the World Cup tour has stopped at Killington, much has changed for the American women’s tech team, which in the 2020-21 season saw five different athletes score in tech events. While Mikaela Shiffrin remains the headliner, the rest of the U.S. women’s tech team is now less of a sideshow and more of a critical mass. Based on the one GS so far this season, the U.S. Ski Team women come into Killington as leaders in the World Cup giant slalom standings. It is a position they last held, as Steve Porino noted, when Microsoft Word launched in 1983. Like the fabled U.S. skiers of that era, they are fierce competitors who push each other in training and feed off each other’s success. They are also a tight-knit support group. As Moltzan says, “It’s a pretty rad little team.”

Where good things start

Though Shiffrin chased her spectacular Soelden debut with two more podiums in Levi, Moltzan, O’Brien and Hurt struggled in the opening slaloms, with only Moltzan scoring points in one Levi race. For the entire team, Killington presents a prime opportunity to find their groove on a familiar hill in front of a legendary crowd. Historically, Killington’s Superstar slope has offered American athletes a comfortable place to start and reclaim their World Cup careers. This year, it is where the tech teammates will show the home crowd how they’ve leveraged those opportunities into World Cup chops.

O’Brien has competed at Killington every year the event has been held since 2016, scoring her first World Cup points on the hill in 2018. She has now scored top-10 finishes in slalom, GS and parallel. Hurt and Moltzan raced the event from 2017-2019. Moltzan, then as a member of the UVM ski team, used the 2018 event to launch her spectacular return to World Cup racing from the college circuit. With top 10s in slalom and GS, and a podium in parallel, Moltzan is a multi-event threat. Hurt made her World Cup debut at Killington, but by her last visit had yet to score a World Cup point. Last season she scored points in four events (SL, GS, SG, PAR) and scored comfortably in this year’s season opener at Soelden.

All three will compete in both events, a first for both Moltzan and Hurt. For Hurt it will also be her first time coming straight to Killington from the World Cup in Levi. “I won’t be bored on Sunday,” she reasons, to which Moltzan adds, “and I guess I won’t be bored Saturday!” Moltzan, who had planned to race the GS in 2019, was sidelined with a back injury.

Joining them in the GS, and possibly slalom, will be Keely Cashman, who comes to Killington from Copper Mountain where she is preparing for speed events. Cashman has a start in every World Cup this season, thanks to her overall NorAm title in 2020. It will be Cashman’s second time racing in Killington. She first qualified in 2017, but found out the night before the race that she was ineligible because of her FIS points. The next time she qualified for a race spot was in 2019. This year, Cashman sees Killington as another step (after Soelden) in rebuilding confidence as she returns from the injury sustained in January 2021.

Cashman’s goal of “getting World Cup nerves out and skiing relaxed,” is modest yet critical to getting up to speed for a season in which she will balance a full schedule of World Cup speed and tech events.

As far as what they normally see on the circuit for tech events, Killington’s Superstar race hill falls in the medium range of difficulty. Much of that depends on Mother Nature and what kind of New England weather she serves up. “When the slalom slope is slick it can be very challenging,” says Moltzan. “It has a sidehill, a lot of microterrain and small breakovers, and it ends on a pitch so you need to stay on it until the end.” The GS, too, is a middle ground with a challenging and steep top pitch, and then a middle section that looks flat but is deceptively tricky. It ends on a steep drop into a roaring crowd that converts into pure energy for fans and athletes alike.

No place like home turf

“In terms of excitement around the race and weekend, it feels the same as the first time in Killington, and maybe even more so,” says O’Brien. “It’s always the highlight of my season. I love being there.” When it comes to what makes Killington feel so special, it’s all the little things, which the women rattle off: people greeting you at breakfast, in English, or giving you an extra cheer getting on and off the chair; bigger, American-style beds; clean laundry; seeing friends and family when walking through the finish area. 

O’Brien, Moltzan and now Hurt all have New England connections. O’Brien attended Burke Mountain Academy and enjoys running into Burkies throughout the ski world. Moltzan expects to see lots of friends from UVM who come south and from her adopted home in Charlemont, Mass. who come north, as well as her family, including her two-year-old niece from Minnesota. Hurt’s New England connection is more recent, having recently spent her sophomore summer at nearby Dartmouth College. Her parents will be on hand to watch.

Cashman may not have a New England connection, but she has a deep appreciation for the supercharged New England ski crowd. “The general hype around ski racing is more present than in the west,” says Cashman. “People are super stoked to sit in the cold and freeze their toes off to watch us. So many people are excited.” As for how it compares to Europe, the only other comparable crowd on the women’s circuit is in Flachau.“They genuinely look forward to Killington,” says O’Brien, of her European competitors.

In any downtime before race day, the teammates also enjoy taking in the Vermont scene, walking around and shopping in downtown Woodstock, visiting Vermont institutions like King Arthur Flour, Worthy Kitchen and Sticky Fingers Bakery, or catching meals locally at Killington restaurants. They will also enjoy an American Thanksgiving and some familiar favorites. For Cashman, that would be mashed potatoes; Moltzan looks forward to the green bean casserole; Hurt goes for the stuffing, and O’Brien is all about the pie(s).

Covid changes

This year, not surprisingly, the Killington event sees Covid-related adjustments. There will be no Friday night bib draw, festivities or autograph sessions, and in the finish area athletes will be separated from the crowd. There will, however, be plenty of partying, with bands between runs and Saturday afternoon and plenty of food and drink for spectators in the village. Also this year, all spectators (who must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test), must be ticketed to control the maximum crowd size. Tickets start at $5/day and proceeds go directly to the Killington World Cup Foundation to support access at snowsports programs throughout New England.

The entire list of U.S. competitors will be finalized this week. It may include independent racer Lila Lapanja, who owns a season-long World Cup slalom spot, and Katie Hensien, who scored her first World Cup slalom points last season and will be making her fourth appearance at Killington. Both are coming off minor injuries. The final two (of nine total) spots in slalom will be determined from NorAm race results this week in Colorado. If any of the six GS spots become available, they will be filled from NorAm results, as well.

The women are humored but unimpressed by their Nations Cup stat from Soelden. “When I saw that post it was very cool to see our name up there,” says O’Brien. “But beyond that it just feels like a good, solid start.” Each of them is focused more on individual performance goals, and on feeling the well-earned confidence that they truly belong as contenders.

“We have some great team energy,” says Moltzan. “We’re hoping to carry momentum as a team, and have our best skiing in front of the home crowd.”